


Horse Prime

by Alice_h



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Crack, Gen, This is the most cursed thing I've ever written
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:28:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25020922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alice_h/pseuds/Alice_h
Summary: 'Save the Cat' but Swift Wind is Horde Prime
Comments: 30
Kudos: 33





	Horse Prime

**Author's Note:**

> What have I done?

Adora steels herself as she moves along the walkway towards Horde Prime’s throne, the man himself facing away from her, surrounded by clones. Now was her hour of reckoning, when she could save Etheria and get Catra back from his evil clutches. The pedestal he sits upon begins to rotate slowly, and Adora cannot wait to stare into the eyes of her nemesis – the cold, dead eyes of someone who has no compassion for any living being, the wicked, irredeemable eyes of-

“Swifty?”

“Hay Adora,” Swift Wind sits awkwardly on the chair, his hind legs splaying out at odd angles from underneath him to allow his forelegs to sit casually in front, “Get it? ‘Hay’? Cause I’m a horse and horses like hay.”

Adora takes another step towards him, her eyebrows furrowing, “I don’t get any of this. What have you done with Horde Prime, Swift Wind?”

“Please…” he laughs unnervingly, “There’s no such thing as Horde Prime, there never was.”

“What?!” Adora scoffs and dips her hand into the pocket of her jacket, pulling out a small piece of paper and unfolding it. Along the top, she has written “Adora’s To-Do List”, and she begins reading, murmuring the words as she goes along, “Number one, find Catra. Number two, tell Catra I’m here to save her. Number three, give Catra a hug. Number four, kis…ehhh, we don’t need to worry about that one. Aha! Number five, tell Horde Prime to fuck off!”

Swift Wind rises from the throne, staring menacingly at Adora, “You wanna double check that last one?”

Adora’s finger traces along the words she has written, “I can’t read my own handwriting that well… it says tell H-O-R…. oh shit.”

“Yeah.”

“But what is going on? Why would you do this? And where is Catra?” she’s getting more anxious by the second as her plans fall apart. Discovering her horse was the leader of an unrelenting intergalactic space empire is not something she had anticipated.

“I shall take those questions in order,” he paces around Adora’s body, making her feel more uncomfortable that she’s been for a long time, “Firstly, I am about to take She-Ra’s power so I can use it to spread the light of Horse Prime into every corner of the universe. Secondly, because you refused to give me a chair despite me asking several times-“

“So you enslave half the universe?!” Adora shouts, her incredulity clear at what she sees as a disproportionate reaction to what she thought was a joke.

“Yes! Was it really so much to ask? Now it is my mission to remove chairs from all but Horse Prime’s favoured brothers and sisters. And as for your Catra, she’s right here.”

Swift Wind clops a hoof on the floor, the sound echoing throughout the vast chamber. Taking their cue, two clones step forward, a third person between them in matching robes and a hood over their head. The markings on the figure’s exposed forearm would have given away her true identity, had Adora not recognised Catra’s figure instantly, and though she wants to run to her, something feels off, and it keeps her frozen in place.

Catra lowers the hood, and Adora gasps loudly at what she sees. The girl’s characteristic wild brown hair had been shaved, aside from a thick strip down the middle like a horse’s mane, and dyed in complementary shades of orange. As she moved it around her body, Adora could see that Catra’s tail, too, matched Swift Wind’s own, a far cry from the deep auburn she was used to.

“Hello, Adora,” her voice is unnervingly devoid of emotion as she speaks, and her eyes glowing green. Adora can do nothing but stare in shock at the empty shell of her closest friend.

“What did you do to her?”

Swift Wind beckons Catra towards him with a small nod, and she walks past without even reacting to Adora’s presence to kneel in front of the horse. One hoof lifts up, and Catra takes hold of it, returning to her feet to stand alongside the one who now controls her, looking at him with a reverent wonder.

“I have made her anew. I have forged a magical sacred bond with her mind, and I have seen a spirit full of torment and pain. But Catra walked into the light of Horse Prime, where she may sit in peace, surrounded by apples.”

Catra’s detached voice echoes Swift Wind’s words, “I am with Horse Prime now, he has given me everything I always searched for. Peace, chairs, hay… things you could never give me, Adora.”

“I… I could have given you a chair…” Adora trails off, her words eaten by the tears choking up inside.

“Oh, Adora,” with Swift Wind’s approval, Catra moves towards her, placing a cold hand on Adora’s cheek, “You could never have given me a chair, not like Horse Prime. I will be able to sit at his side and be happy.”

Adora’s determination returns to her. Whatever Swift Wind has done to Catra, he can undo it, and she will not leave until he does – she came here to rescue Catra, and she will not fail, “Let her go!”

“I think we can make a deal. I will let you take Catra if you give me She-Ra and allow me to bring the light of Horse Prime to the darkest corners of the universe. But I’m not going to force you to agree right now, maybe you’d like to spend some time with your best friend? I’m sure there are plenty of things you need to say and do… if the stuff you say in your sleep is anything to go by.”

“What?!” Adora’s jaw drops, and embarrassment colours her cheeks red. Swift Wind says nothing further as he makes his way along the walkway, the sound of hooves on metal fading away with his exit, and it leaves Catra and Adora alone together for the first time since that fateful day Adora found the sword.

The two stare deep into each other’s eyes, and Adora sees, just for a fraction of a second, the green glow of Horse Prime’s programming fade into the familiar yellow and blue. She knows her friend is still inside, and if she can just reach past Swift Wind’s control, she can save her. But Catra is in no mood to talk, and she swipes a clawed hand towards Adora’s face, but a quickly-reacting hand grabs hold of her forearm before it can do any damage.

“I know you’re still in there, Catra. You have to fight it!”

There’s another flicker of the green light, and it fades, the blank expression of mind-controlled Catra giving way to the terrified look of someone pleading for help, “I told you not to come back, Adora!”

“I couldn’t leave you here,” she smiles, trying to be reassuring, and relaxes her grip on Catra’s wrist, “You don’t belong here.”

“I don’t belong anywhe…” her sentence is cut short as Horse Prime takes over her body again, bones cracking as she contorts herself out of Adora’s grip, “I belong with Horse Prime, a role model for all horsekind.”

She makes another attack, landing punches and scratches all over, and though Adora doesn’t want to harm her, she has no option but to fight back. The two battle, matched evenly, along the platform, trading blows and dodging hits. Catra swipes with claws, tearing clothing and breaking the skin underneath, but Adora still will not give up on her. Another punch sends Catra soaring through the air, dangerously close to the edge. When she looks up, Adora sees that she’s broken through the programming again.

“Catra, please, come with me! I’ll take you home!” there are tears of desperation in her eyes as she pleads to save the girl who means more to her than anyone else in the universe.

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

Adora reaches out to pull her back from the edge of the platform, but Catra’s hand doesn’t quite make contact. Her face reduces to blankness again, the green in her eyes glowing stronger than ever as Swift Wind’s voice speaks through her, “Wrong answer, Adora! Was it not enough to keep my fellow horses imprisoned in Bright Moon?”

“You mean… keeping them in stables? Like everyone does with Horses?”

“Not in the worlds upon which my light shines. They are utopias where my clones serve apples and hay to horses that are free to roam under my command.”

Adora chooses not to get diverted any further, “Let her go. Catra, I know you can beat this! You’ve never listened to anyone in your life. Are you really going to start now?”

There’s another flicker of the real Catra as Adora’s words hit home, a slight chuckle in her voice, “You’re such an idiot.”

“Yeah, I know,” she shouts, unable to mask the grin that came with the brief glimmer of how things used to be for them.

Catra laughs louder now, but the more she tries to fight the programming, the stronger Horse Prime’s grip on her becomes. The laugh turns from a loving giggle to an evil cackle, and with eyes glowing brighter than before, she hears Swift Wind’s voice again, “Disappointing, Adora. It seems there is no saving Catra now. Do you know what I like most?”

“Uh, apples?”

“Aside from apples.”

“Hay?”

“No, not that.”

“Toppling unjust hier-”

“It’s loop-de-loops, Adora!” Swift Wind’s impatience cuts her off, “Just say loop-de-loops.”

Adora tilts her head to the side, “Uh, loop-de-loops?”

“Hey, you remembered what I like! You wanna see me do a loop-de-loop?”

She realises too late what he’s talking about, screaming out as Horse Prime forces Catra’s body to jump off the platform in a near-perfect backwards somersault. Without thinking, Adora dives off after her, losing consciousness as she hits the ground below. When she comes to, Catra’s limp body lies a foot away, breathing unevenly, and Adora drags herself across to hold the girl in her arms, burying her face into Catra’s shoulder as they become surrounded by clones.

“I am sorry for the needless waste, Adora. She did not have to fall like so many bags of apples that you kept from the horses in those stables,” Swift Wind speaks through one of the clones as the others look on.

Adora doesn’t give a spoken response. A mix of rage, fear and love come together inside her, and she feels a power that she’s not felt since shattering the Sword of Protection. She raises her hand and something begins to materialise in the air around it. Now she realises what this feeling is, and whispers the words, “For the honor of Grayskull.”

Her body transforms as she has done many times before, but this time it’s different. Not only does she not look like the She-Ra before, but she feels more connected to who she is, as though Adora and She-Ra are one and the same. She throws Catra over her shoulder, and fends off the attacking clones with the sword, drawing an X of magical energy in the air which fires towards them, sending them flying. More and more clones try to attack, but she’s easily able to best them and the floor is scattered with Horse Prime’s lifeless pawns.

Adora notices one look up at her, and the change in its eyes tell her that Horse Prime is connected, looking up towards her. She stares back, her eyes narrowing with willpower.

“Hey, Swift Wind,” she pauses for a moment, making sure she has his attention, “Bitch.”


End file.
